Two people were killed and several others seriously injured by falling trees
as torrential rain and hurricane force winds battered Britain yesterday.

Thousands of people were without power, ports and airports were closed, the train network was severely disrupted and emergency services were stretched to the limit.

One of the country’s largest racecourses was evacuated when part of a grandstand blew away.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across many regions and warned motorists to avoid all but the most urgent journeys.

In Tunbridge Wells, Kent, a man in his fifties was crushed to death when 100mph winds blew a giant oak on to the van in which he was sitting.

Another man died in the English Channel when a small tanker was hit by a large wave. Falmouth coastguard in Cornwall said three men were airlifted from the boat and taken to hospital. One was dead on arrival.

A man had to be rescued after his dinghy was upturned in “appalling weather conditions” in Portsmouth Harbour, Hampshire. He was found suffering from hypothermia on a mud flat next to his dinghy.

In Witley, Surrey, a bus driver was injured when an oak was blown on to his vehicle and a motorist in Dorset had to be cut free when a fallen tree near Wimborne caused him to crash into another car containing a family of four.

In Dorchester, Dorset an HGV driver was thrown from his vehicle and trapped after it was blown over by a gust of wind.

Epsom racecourse in Surrey, the home of the Derby, had to be evacuated after part of a grandstand was blown away. Insulation from the Duchess Stand, which was completed two years ago at a cost of £38 million, was blown across the racecourse and a nearby golf course.

Environment Agency officers rescued a woman from her car after it became trapped in flood waters in Chew Stoke, Somerset. The woman, in her forties, had attempted to drive her Vauxhall Nova through a flooded ford, but the vehicle was swept away and became lodged against a tree in the River Chew.

In Scotland five people were injured when high winds overturned caravans in Dunoon in Argyll and Bute.

In Kilcreggan, west Scotland, a house that featured in the Channel 4 programme Grand Designs was damaged by gales. Airports in Glasgow and Edinburgh were partly closed and many ferries, especially in the Channel along the Hampshire coast and the Isle of Wight, faced delays and cancellations. The Port of Dover closed for a short time and ferry passengers had to ride out the worst of the storm.

Thousands of people were left without power as winds brought down power lines. More than 70,000 homes in Scotland, 10,000 in Northern Ireland and about 8,500 properties in parts of Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire were affected.

Flood warnings were issued across England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland, police advised motorists to take extra care. A number of roads in Belfast and Londonderry were closed.

Gemma Plumb, at the forecaster Meteogroup, said everywhere had seen strong winds. “So far we’ve seen gusts across central and southern parts of Scotland of 85 to 97mph.

“That’s an hourly figure, so there’s a chance there may have been stronger gusts of more than 100mph.”

The Met Office reported wind speeds of 106mph at Great Dun Fell in the north Pennines and 102mph in Edinburgh.